Citizens for Recycling First has succeeded
in gathering 5,000 signatures for its petition on a new White House website
that promises a response from the Obama Administration.

A total of 5,133 signatures were
gathered by the October 24 deadline. According to the White House website, the
administration must now formally respond to the petition which reads: “We
believe the Obama Administration should protect coal ash recycling by promptly
enacting disposal regulations that do NOT designate coal ash a ‘hazardous
waste.’”

The White
House recently launched a program called “We the People” that is designed to
“provide you with a new way to petition the Obama Administration to take action
on a range of important issues facing our country. If a petition gets enough
support, White House staff will review it, ensure it’s sent to the appropriate
policy experts, and issue an official response.”

The White
House says it may take several weeks to analyze successful petitions and issue
a response. Everyone who signed the petition will receive the response to the
e-mail address they provided when signing the petition.

Citizens
for Recycling First is grateful to everyone who participated in getting
friends, family and associates to sign the petition. The American Coal Ash
Association and National Ready Mixed Concrete Association were particularly
helpful in reaching out to their members.

The 5,000
signatures were particularly hard to gather because the White House website was
frequently overloaded and unresponsive to people trying to sign. Since Citizens
for Recycling First filed its petition, the White House has raised its threshold
for responding to 25,000 signatures in 30 days. The White House website promises, however,
that the new threshold will not apply retroactively to the coal ash petition.